Just an Old Legend Ch. 04

He came around the front of her and blocked her. She was very surprised at this and a bit alarmed. His snout now poked against her sweater, and when he exhaled to make room for more sniffing, his breath felt hot against her skin through the material of the sweater. The breast on the side where he'd exhaled was all in favor of hot, but on the whole, it was rather invasive, she thought.

"Buddy," she protested, "Hey! I was in town, alright? Come on, my ex-husband wasn't this bad when I'd go out! I met up with Mr. Beamish, the real estate agent and we talked. I have to talk to him. He's the guy who I'll be buying the island from."

Her hand went to his nose, and she laid her fingers on top of the snout and pushed. The wolf stopped sniffing and stared at her eyes.

"Just stop it, ok? I wish you could understand me, because you know I tell you everything, right? You wouldn't have to do this whole vacuum cleaner thing to me. All you'd have to do is listen to me." she looked into the now serious eyes that looked back.

"Ok," she laughed, "and THEN you could do the vacuum cleaner thing like a jealous husband. Sheesh."

His nose began to wander to her right. There was something there, he thought, something... someth- He jumped suddenly. Helen looked at him twenty feet away.

Gun oil. He snorted hard, trying to be rid of the odor. Gun oil and gunpowder. Gun oil, gunpowder and traces of cleaning solvent. He stared at her, trying to keep his hackles down.

She had a gun.

Helen wasn't stupid. While she'd thought that it might not have bothered him to take the gun along if it were kept under cover, she was now kicking herself for forgetting about his nose. She had to make this better now and quickly. She began to walk as though it was no big deal.

"Yeah, it's a gun," she said airily, "but don't you worry yourself, stud muffin. This is only along in case we get trouble from one of those bears. I can't let you do all the work, can I?"

She looked back at him standing there. "Come on, honey. I don't shoot my friends. Call it a personal policy. I just consider it such bad form, you know?" She didn't look back again, but kept walking, telling him everything.

It worked eventually. He realized that if he wanted to hear her sweet voice, he'd better get where she was. He decided that if she'd wanted to kill him, she'd likely have done it before now. And anyway, he thought, all she really had to do was to be near him and NOT talk to begin the process of killing him.

Besides, he'd suddenly discovered the quiet joy of walking the trail behind her.

His new friend had flat-out amazed him again, he admitted to himself as he followed her. Her wavy hair was tied back in a long loose braid that always seemed to want to be on the verge of coming undone, but never really did. It was a bit of a mystery to him as he trotted along, mesmerized by the sway of her hips and the shape of her legs in those jeans. He realized that she was just walking, but he appreciated it all the same. The thought came to him that if she were to playfully strut just once for only about fifteen feet from this angle, well, he'd likely just fall over.

After some distance, Helen turned to look back once more and almost doubled over in laughter at his expression. He closed the distance between them and she put her arm around his huge neck to pull him close to her as she ruffled the fur for a moment, "You know, I've had arguments with people before over whether dogs, and I guess wolves now, have the ability to smile or not. I said that they couldn't, that it was just what people wanted to see in their faces."

She looked into those shining yellow eyes and grinned, "Shows you what I know, doesn't it?"

Her fingers drifted up to the point of one tall ear and back down, "You are the most handsome guy I've ever seen, Buddy. And don't think I'm not thankful for meeting you here. I've never minded being alone all that much, I guess, but having you around is so much better." She slid her hand over his sleek fur and pounded the flat of her hand against his powerful shoulder affectionately. Her reward was his pleased look. She felt the power of the way that he was built and it pleased her so much now just to be allowed to be his friend like this.

A thought came to her as she held his head against her, really tousling his fur affectionately. Because of his size, that had him looking up at her with the swell of one of her breasts over his left eye. It gave him a roguish look as he grinned in his way, almost as though he was winking at her.

"Baby? You must be some kind of love machine to the girl wolves around here." She winked at him, "A big, gorgeous, handsome boy like you? I'll bet they come running from everywhere for your attention when they need you." She turned slightly to look at the eyes under his raised eyebrows, "You do have a girlfriend or five or ... at least eight, don't you?"

She nodded with a chuckle, "Must be at least eight. I'll bet they just hate having to wait for their turns with you." It made her laugh to think about it, "I'd probably love to see the DVD of that show - 'Buddy the Stud Muffin does the Wolfpack' or something like that. I don't have any dirty movies, Buddy, but that one?" She laughed a bit more, "I'd keep that one right out on the coffee table."

Helen couldn't say how she knew it. There was no change to his expression that she could see, but she instantly regretted her laughing comment and was glad that he couldn't understand her. Somehow she was suddenly certain that there was no female here for him, no hopeful wolf-bitch for him to mount or curl up with. She thought about what the winters must be like here, long, cold and lonely.

He was so obviously different from any kind of dog or wolf. She tried to picture him trying to mate with a regular wolf bitch. There was just no way. It made her a little sad for him. She had no idea what a female canine would consider attractive, but whatever it was that would cause a female to want him, he had to have tons of it. But he was all alone. She hadn't known him for very long, but to her, that just wasn't right, somehow.

He stared at those soft green eyes for a moment. There was a twinge of sadness in his chest for a second as he thought about the limitations of their relationship here, but overall he was happy that she was here with him.

He closed his mouth and strained just a little as he pointed his nose toward her. He had to be careful now. He strained just a little more, looking as though he wanted to get just a little closer, but was not quite able to. He willed her to look into his eyes. He wanted to admire the dusting of freckles that he saw there on her face, but he maintained eye contact with those green orbs. He laid it on a bit more and pulled his ears back and down a bit. A little more, just a little closer...

Helen saw him try to reach her. She wondered about it briefly. He seemed to want to get closer without appearing threatening in any way. He was so regal, she thought, so gentle-looking when he wanted to be. A brief thought of warning came to her as she saw his face approach so slowly, but his eyes drew her in. She leaned down just a little, wondering what he wanted that would make him strain so much trying to reach her. Those eyes of his were mesmerizing as she felt herself drawn closer.

And then he sprang his trap and lunged.

Helen recoiled and tried to get her free arm up defensively, but it was too late. He'd made out that he had to stretch to reach, when he'd really had plenty of reach left for this. His tongue was everywhere in an instant and he licked her as fast as he could, knowing that he only had the briefest of moments before she pulled away.

"Gah!" Helen sputtered, wiping his saliva with her sweater. He'd gotten her from her forehead to her throat. When she looked, he stood there with the most self-satisfied grin that she could have ever imagined. The moment was over and his demeanor had changed. He looked completely different now.

Now he was every inch the rogue, thoroughly pleased with himself. He trotted off in front of her, leading the way now.

He'd gotten what he was after. He decided that he liked the taste of her freckles. And those lips...

Helen stumbled along behind him, spitting at the bitter taste in her mouth and shaking her head, wondering how she'd let herself be sucked in so easily.

"You frenched me!"

"Eww," She spit again, "You're a dirty scoundrel, Buddy!"

He walked for a few steps and pranced just a bit as he listened to the grumbling and muttered words from behind him.

Her voice was low as she spit some more and tried to wipe her tongue and lips against the material of her sweater, anything to lose that taste. "...a low-down ... sneaky, scheming ... rotten ..."

Helen remembered her own dog from her childhood and the way that he'd licked his ... It hit her that he must do the same thing and she recoiled. "AH!" she shook her head, trying to dislodge the thought. She spit even more now.

He didn't look back. He knew where she was headed.

By the time that they'd neared the beach, all was forgiven, though barely. Helen told him not to do that again and he'd looked so contrite and apologetic that she'd put her arm over his shoulders again as they walked. She caught his look, though. He was going to try it again at some point and she knew it. She stopped for a moment and bent down a little waving her finger at him. "Uh-uh," she said. "Don't do that again. No."

He licked her finger and she turned away rolling her eyes to continue walking and tried like hell not to laugh. They're all the same, she thought, some have fur and some drive Corvettes or some other sports cars, but deep down, they're all the same.

Down on the beach, she kept up the patter, telling him about how she'd talked to the marina operators and the outfitters to get a real picture of how busy the property had been. He was impressed, admitting to himself that he'd never have thought of it - but then he was only a poor farmer, back when he was a poor farmer.

Helen set the nylon bag down, spread out the towel and started taking off her clothes to catch at least a few rays. She'd just set the last of her clothes down when she looked over at him. His eyes were hard to read, but she was sure that she'd never seen them that big.

And then his tongue flopped out of his mouth like so much bad punctuation and Helen laughed and laughed, "I can't remember the last time a man looked at me like that, but thanks Buddy. I sure needed that!"

The air in the cove was still fairly warm, and she thought that she might get about an hour in before the sun lost its juice for the day. Her chatter tapered off until she was still, lying there on her front.

He watched her, looking over at the bag now and then. He didn't like it. He listened to her breathing, waiting for her to doze. When he thought she'd gotten there, he walked very quietly and as much as he hated the stink of it, was just forcing his teeth to close on the strap. He intended to lose this in the bushes quickly for her own good. He'd come back for it later.

"No."

He let go of the strap and turned to see her eyes open and looking at him. "Please leave that alone, Buddy. Come here."

She rolled onto her side as he walked to her and she reached up to rub his ear. It was a big ear on a big head and it was farther to reach than she'd have thought at first, though he tried to lower his head for her.

"I'd almost think that you were up to some mischief there. Look, just stop getting spooked by that bag. I'd only ever pull that out if there's a bear that's too interested. That's not for you. You might not know it or care, but you're pretty much my closest friend right now." Helen scratched him lightly under his chin and he looked to be in a moment of bliss as she did it.

"You've shown me that I can trust you and you show me that more and more. So if I can trust you, you need to trust me a little too, ok?" She rolled onto her back and closed her eyes.

He stood looking down at her and trying to deal with the emotions that her gentle words had brought to him. She'd called him her friend. He knew that she had no way to know, but he was on the edge of being overwhelmed here. She'd spoken of trust. He supposed that this did take a large measure of it from her point of view. He hadn't thought of being able to trust anyone in...

He shook his head at the thought of it.

After a few minutes of silence, he began to sniff her skin. He just began near her ribs and went from there. Helen found his breath something of a thrill and she tried hard to remain still when his whiskers touched her now and then. He was astounded that she had let his mouth this close to her pretty throat.

He kept breathing her in. He wondered about this - he'd never been this taken with anyone's skin scent before. It was a marvel to him. He thought briefly about biting her just enough to get his saliva into her bloodstream, but as appealing as that was, it was not something that he'd just do. That had been the cause of all of their misfortunes, his and Danaya's. How could he spread misery like his? And not to the only one who even liked him, though she didn't know the danger that she willingly placed herself in.

Well, he supposed that it was much the same thing. She was showing her trust here to an animal that she believes to be wild. But while the animal whom she lets smell her lovely skin is far wilder, he realized that he was an animal just the same. In either case, she could die in a heartbeat. He smelled over her navel.

Mother of God, he thought, how he wanted to...

"Hey!" Helen's eyes flew open. Just at the bottom of her vision she saw his huge shoulders, and then they were gone, followed by a soft thump on the sand. She raised her head and saw him lying with his head on the sand between his paws.

"Way too close. That's enough of that." Helen made a point of locking her eyes onto his as he looked up a little apologetically. "Not allowed."

She sat up and rubbed the big head with a smile, "Come on, we ought to get going. Dinner should be about ready," She looked intently in his eyes and smiled a bit wider, "I did promise you something earlier and I've got some soup bones for you. I just hope I didn't let you down, but I think you don't have any other girlfriends who can cook at all. I probably win with my lousy cooking by default." She stood up and pulled her clothes on, scooped the blanket and turned to get the bag. Just as she'd lifted it, she stopped.

They'd been here the better part of an hour, she thought. How could she have not noticed this? She stared and turned to see the now-cleared beach, where yesterday there had been dead-falls that she couldn't have moved with a tractor. She looked at the inlet suddenly, wondering who had come in through there but now saw the dead tree blocking it. She walked to where the tree had been wrenched out of the sand, spinning to look for tracks, but the beach had obviously been swept clean. Walking to the piles of wood, she noted that some had even been sawn. Who the hell had done this? And why?

The wolf walked to her and just touched her hip with his body. Helen looked at his yellow eyes, wondering. Buddy must know everything that goes on here, she thought. There is just no way that anybody could just come here, do a ton of work and leave without his knowing something about it. She laid her hand on his head and her thumb caressed him between his eyes, "I'd bet that you saw whoever did this, huh? Jesus, Buddy, I really wish you could talk to me right now. I need to know what the hell is going on here." She squatted and opened the bag.

He grew apprehensive for a moment as he watched her pull out the old gun - his gun! She loaded the two shells in an instant, snapping the thing shut and setting the safety as though she'd been doing that all of her life. She was amazing, he thought. Danaya had trouble picking it up - most of the time she refused to even touch it. Helen slid it back into the bag, but left the zipper open just enough to reach for it if she had to. She turned to him as she shouldered the bag, "Let's go."

The trip back to the house was all but silent. He wondered what was wrong, he thought she'd have been pleased. But then he thought about it from what her point of view must be and wanted to run his head into a tree. Of course, she'd feel threatened, thinking some humans had done the work. He wanted to tell her that she didn't need to worry, and that she was safe here.

He knew that he'd have to be very careful if anyone came here to visit her. A false move or one that could be misinterpreted could prove fatal.

For them.

He'd been shot before with buckshot, high-powered rifle bullets and razor-tipped hunting arrows by fools who had thought he was a bear, a moose, or a deer, depending on their level of buck fever or how badly they'd needed their optical prescriptions renewed. He'd been shot twice by idiots looking to collect on the old wolf bounty, way back when. In each case the damage had been irritating, annoying or just painful, but temporary nonetheless.

He healed quickly and bore no scars but Danaya's. His retribution in every case had been permanent. Amazing the number of broken necks and drownings around this island during hunting season, he thought.

They reached the house, and she hung the bag behind the door. She realized that she liked having the shotgun along, but not for her safety. It didn't make her feel half as safe as he did when he was beside her. No, she liked having the thing along because she feared for him. All it would take is one fool.

"You wait right here, ok?" Helen leaned down just a little, and kissed him on the top of his snout. She turned to go inside.

You could have knocked him over with a feather.

She came back out with the biggest stainless steel bowl that she'd found earlier and placed it in front of him. The aroma was pretty heady to his mind. Inside there were two large soup bones, still warm from being boiled and there was a lot of meat on them. "Enjoy them, my friend. I'll be back in a minute."

He'd just gotten started on the first when she was back to sit on the step with her own dinner. She was happy to have him there for the company, and suddenly wondered if she would feel this secure if there was no Buddy for her on this island. She already knew that answer, and sat in wonder watching him gnaw and try to work out the marrow.

Yesterday she'd asked herself if she wanted the island with him on it. Today she was feeling more like she wanted this island because he was on it. He looked a bit nervous as she set her plate down for a minute to come to him. "Keep eating," she said, "I'm not going to take that away from you."

She wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him before walking back to continue her dinner.